1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus by means of which oil or other similar impurity can be removed from the surface of water by collecting it in a rope or similar means and by then removing it from the rope. The apparatus is especially suitable if the substance to be removed is heavy fuel oil or crude oil from which some of the light fractions have evaporated. It can be said that by the time the apparatus has been brought to the collection place, the oil has already evaporated to such a degree that it is suitable for being collected by means of an apparatus according to the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A large number of oil removal devices are known in the field. Many of them are also based on the use of a rope or similar means, the rope being moved back and forth through the collecting device, or the collecting device being moved along the rope. The known apparatus have, however, a disadvantage in that, when they are used, all the collecting material cannot be exploited to the maximum degree. This is so because, being in the form of a circular boom, the collecting material must float on water, in which case oil is collecting only by that part of the material which happens to be at the water surface level at a given time. Waves alter the level to some extent, but at least a half of the effective collecting capacity of the material may remain unused.